Section 1.4. Summary

1.4. Summary

As you have seen, all version control systems provide a means to keep track of the changes made to a collection of files over time; and since software development is usually a collaborative effort, they also provide facilities to merge the efforts of multiple developers. Branching and tagging features of many VCSs allow the paths of development on a project to be marked at critical points, as well as to branch off into different paths, for such cases as fixing bugs on previous releases or allowing a developer to add and test new functionality without breaking the main development trunk.

The benefits of using a version control system are many, and its use is critical for any project of larger than trivial size. Beyond the obvious benefit of code tracking, a good VCS will improve data integrity and record keeping, as well as aid developer productivity and accountability for individual contributions. The VCS also allows projects to distribute work more effectively over a large number of developers, and facilitates many of today's rapid development processes, such as XP and Agile Development.

Now that you have a firm grasp of the general features and benefits of version control, you can turn to Chapter 2, "An Introduction to Subversion," where I show how the Subversion Version Control System implements the basic version control features, and how those features measure up to Subversion's predecessor CVS.